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Traditional paleontology has given us a picture of a more or less simple ladder of stem tetrapod evolution that had its key moment when an Ichthyostega-like taxon first crawled out on dry land. Then, according to the widely accepted paradigm, certain lineages returned to the water while others ventured forth onto higher and drier environs.

By contrast,
The large reptile tree (LRT, 1033 taxa) documents a bushier conquest of land, occurring in at least seven Devonian waves until the beachhead was secured by our reptile ancestors.

Dr. Jennifer Clack and her team have shown us that fish/amphibians can have limbs (Acanthostega and Ichthyostega) and not be interested in leaving the water. That comes later and later and, well, seven times all together.

Figure 1. Colosteus relatives according to the LRT scaled to a common skull length. Their sizes actually vary quite a bit, as noted by the different scale bars. Only Pholidogaster and Colosteus are taxa in common with traditional colosteid lists.

The first wave:
simple small fins to simple small limbsArising from lobe-fin fish with one nostril migrating to the inside of the mouth, like Osteolepis, the much larger collosteid, Pholidogaster, had small limbs with toes. The smaller, but equally scaly and eel-like Colosteus, reduced those limbs to vestiges, showing they were not that important for getting around underwater in that wriggly clade. Neither shows signs of ever leaving the water and phylogenetically neither led to the crawling land tetrapods. However, like the living peppered moray eel (Gymnothorax pictus, Graham, Purkis and Harris 2009) in search of crabs, these taxa might have made the first landfall without limbs. See terrestrial moray eel videohere.

Figure 2. Greererpeton reduced to a blueprint of body parts. Here there may be one extra phalanx on pedal digit 5 and one missing on pedal digit 2 compared to sister taxa. So an alternate is shown with that repair. The skulls at left are juveniles.

The second wave:
fins to limbs on long flattened bottom feedersFully limbed Greererpeton and Trimerorhachis were derived from finny flat taxa like Panderichthys and Tiktaalik. Both Greererpeton and Trimerorhachis were likewise flat- and long-bodied aquatic forms that seem unlikely to have been able to support themselves without the natural buoyancy of water. Their descendants in the LRT likewise look like they were more comfortable lounging underwater like living hellbenders (genus Cryptobranchus. According to Wikipedia: “The hellbender has working lungs, but gill slits are often retained, although only immature specimens have true gills; the hellbender absorbs oxygen from the water through capillaries of its side frills.” Only rarely do hellbenders leave the water, perhaps to climb on low pond rocks. If the Greererpeton clade was similar, this would have been the second meager and impermanent conquest of the land. And they would not have gone too far from the pond.

Figure 3. Pederpes is a basal taxon in the Whatcheeria + Crassigyrinus clade.

The third wave: the Pederpes/Eryops clade experimented with overlapping ribs.
Arising from shorter Ossinodus and Acanthostega, a clade that included Pederpes, Ventastega, Baphetes and Eryops arose. This clade looks quite capable of conquering the land for the third time. Their overlapping ribs helped support their short backbone, for the first time lifting their belies off the substrate when doing so, matching Middle Devonian tracks. Some clade members, like Crassigyrinus (with its vestigial limbs) and Saharastega (with its flattened skull) appear to have opted for a return to a watery environment. And who could blame them? In any case, their big lumbering bodies were not well adapted to clambering over dry obstacles, like rocks and plants, that made terrestrial locomotion more difficult. And the biggest best food was still in the water. No doubt limbs helped many of them find new ponds and swamps when they felt the urge to do so, like living crocs. And they probably left the water AFTER some of the smaller and more able taxa listed below.

Figure 4. Proterogyrinus had a substantial neck.

The fourth wave:a longer neck and a smaller head gave us Proterogyrinus.Ariising from fully aquatic fish/amphibians with overlapping ribs, like Ichthyostega, basal reptilomorphs, like low-slung, lumbering Proterogyrinus took the first steps toward more of a land-living life. The nostrils shifted forward, but were still tiny, at first. Bur the ribs were slender without any overlap. Perhaps this signaled improvements in lung power. Larger nostrils appeared in more devoted air breathers, like Eoherpeton and Anthracosaurus. All these taxa were still rather large and lumbering and so were probably more at home in the water.

Figure 5. Eucritta in situ and reconstructed. Note the large pes in green.

The fifth wave:goes small, gets longer legs and gives us Seymouria.Eucritta is the first of the small amphibians with longer limbs relative to trunk length. This clade also arises from Ichthyostega-like ancestors. One descendant clade begins with a several long-bodied, short-legged salamander-like taxa. Discosauriscus is one of these. It begins life in water, but grows up to prefer dry land. Seymouria is the culmination of this clade.

Figure 6. Utegenia nests as a sister to Diplovertebron.

The sixth wave:gives us salamanders and frogs.Still tied to the water for reproduction and early growth with gills, this clade arises from the seymouriamorph/lepospondyl Utegenia, a short-legged, flat-bodied aquatic taxon. That plesiomorphic taxon gives rise to legless Acherontiscus and kin including modern caecilians. Reptile-mimic microsaurs, like Tuditanus arise from this clade. So do modern salamanders, like Andrias and long-legged, short bodied frogs, like Rana. Their marriage to or divorce from water varies across a wide spectrum in living taxa.

Figure 7. Various stem amniotes (reptiles) that precede Tulerpeton in the LRT. So these taxa likely radiated in the Late Devonian. And taxa like Acanthostega and Ichthyostega are late-survivors of earlier radiations documented by the earlier trackways.

The seventh wave:gives us the amniotic egg and the reptiles that laid them.No one should have ever said you have to look like a typical reptile to lay an amnion-covered egg. And if they did, they were not guided by a large gamut phylogenetic analysis. This clade become fully divorced from needing water for reproduction, but basal members still liked the high humidity and wet substrate of the swamp. Arising from basalmost seymouriamorphs like Ariekanerpeton, stem reptiles included Bystrowiellaand Silvanerpeton. These were small agile taxa with relatively long legs that would have had their genesis in the Late Devonian. Their first appearance in the fossil record was much later. The development of the amnion-enclosed embryo may have taken millions of years. The first phylogenetic reptiles appear in the form of amphibian-like Gephyrostegus and Tulerpetonin the Late Devonian, which still had six fingers and scales, but these lacked layers typically found in more fish-like taxa.

So the conquest of the landby stem and basal tetrapods appears to have occurred seven times, according to the LRT, from distinct clades that were more or less ready to do so and in different ways. And, of course, odd extant fish, like the Peppered moray eel (wave 8) and the mudskipper, (wave 9) and maybe even snakes from stem sea snakes (wave 10) continue this tradition. What will THEY eventually evolve into, given enough time?

Anthracosaurus russelli (Huxley 1863, Panchen 1977, Clack 1987; Westphalian, Late Carboniferous, 310 mya, skull length 40cm; Figs. 1, 2) was originally considered a labyrinthodont. The wide, yet pointed, triangular skull and tall orbits recall traits found in labyrinthodonts, like Sclerocephalus, and in the basal tetrapod, Tiktaalik.Here, in the large reptile tree (LRT, 967 taxa), Anthracosaurus nests with Neopteroplax (Fig. 3) as a derived embolomere, the clade that likely gave rise to Seymouriamorpha, Lepospondyli and Reptilia

At least one orbit
in Anthracosaurus has an inverted teardrop shape. The marginal and palatal fangs are quite large. Although flattened in dorsal view, comparisons suggest the jaw margin was convex, as in Neopteroplax.

Based on its size and nesting,Anthracosaurus developed a labyrinthodont-like skull by convergence because Proterogyrinus is basal in the Embolomeri. Those giant marginal and palatal fangs indicate a predatory niche.

Figure 2. Left: Anthracosaurus chimaera from Clack 1987. Right: Older tracing in dorsal view of the complete skull and palatal view attributed to Anthracosaurus from an online photo. The narrower skull is made of several different specimens (chimaera) and produces a loss of resolution in the LRT.

Clack 1987illustrated a lateral and dorsal view of Anthracosaurus (Fig. 2) based on a chimaera of specimens. Unfortunately, plugging that data into the LRT produced loss of resolution over several nodes. Using the older single skull in dorsal view had no such problems.

We looked at the problems chimaera taxa produce
earlier here, and in six blogs that preceded that one.

Figure 3. Neopteroplax has a skull quite similar to the older single skull of Anthracosaurus and they nest together in the LRT.

The clade Anthracosauria has had problemsFrom Wikipedia:“Gauthier, Kluge and Rowe (1988) defined Anthracosauria as ‘Amniota plus all other tetrapods that are more closely related to amniotes than they are to amphibians” (Amphibia in turn was defined by these authors as a clade including Lissamphibia and those tetrapods that are more closely related to lissamphibians than they are to amniotes).”

In this definition non-amniote Anthracosauria does not include Anthracosaurus, but only Silvanerpeton and Gephyrostegus in the LRT because more basal taxa are also basal to amphibians.

“Similarly, Michel Laurin (1996) uses the term in a cladistic sense to refer to only the most advanced reptile-like amphibians. Thus his definition include the (Diadectomorpha and Solenodonsauridae) and the amniotes.”

In the LRT Diadectomorpha and Solenodonsauridae are amniotes.

“As Ruta, Coates and Quicke (2003) pointed out, this definition is problematic, because, depending on the exact phylogenetic position of Lissamphibia within Tetrapoda, using it might lead to the situation where some taxa traditionally classified as anthracosaurs, including even the genus Anthracosaurus itself, wouldn’t belong to Anthracosauria.

Indeed! And that happened in the LRT.

Laurin (2001) created a different phylogenetic definition of Anthracosauria, defining it as “the largest clade that includes Anthracosaurus russelli but not Ascaphus truei”.

In the LRT Ascaphus, the tailed frog, is derived from the large clade, the embolomeri, that includes Anthracosaurus. However the small clade that includes just Anthracosaurus and Neopteroplax does not include the tailed frog.

“However, Michael Benton (2000, 2004) makes the anthracosaurs a paraphyletic order within the superorder Reptiliomorpha, along with the orders Seymouriamorpha and Diadectomorpha, thus making the Anthracosaurians the “lower” reptile-like amphibians. In his definition, the group encompass the Embolomeri, Chroniosuchia and possibly the family Gephyrostegidae.”

The clade Reptilomorpha suffers the same definition problems.As Wikipedia reported, “As the exact phylogenetic position of Lissamphibia within Tetrapoda remains uncertain, it also remains controversial which fossil tetrapods are more closely related to amniotes than to lissamphibians, and thus, which ones of them were reptiliomorphs in any meaning of the word.”

ReferencesClack JA 1987. Two new speciemens of Anthracosaurus (Amphibia: Anthracosauria) from the Northumberland coal measures. Palaeontology 30(1):15-26.Huxley TH 1863. Description of Anthracosaurus russelli, a new labyrinthodont from the Lanarkshire coalfield. Quartery Journal of the Geological Society 19:56-58.Panchen AL 1975. A new genus and species of anthracosaur amphibian from the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland and the status of Pholidogaster pisciformis Huxley. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B. 269: 581-640.Panchen AL 1977. On Anthracosaurus russelli Huxley (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia) and the family Anthracosauridae. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 279 (968): 447–512.

Earlier in six prior posts we looked at some new basal amniotes revealed by phylogenetic bracketing and phylogenetic analysis. Data was gleaned by DGS, Digital Graphic Segregation, a technique that is currently used by a few paleontologists and should be used more often by more of them as you’ll see in the present demonstration.

Figure 1. Gephyrostegus watsoni as traced by Carroll 1970 using traditional methods. Here just the most prominent bones are identified leaving many unknown. Where are the gastralia? Where are the vertebrae?

DGS – Digital Graphic Segregation
has been getting a bad rap for a long time. Here, once again, I was able to find more bones than did prior workers not using DGS. Instead they examined these basal amniotes first hand and created tracings or sketches in their own manner, often without great precision and too often leaving out bones that were indeed present (Fig. 1).

Here’s a good chance to judge the results for yourself.
If this is voodoo, if this is useless, ignore it. If you think it has value, embrace it. Click here to see a rollover image of Gephyrostegus watsoni, both in situ and with bones colorized. The original image was 600 dpi. The presentation on the web is at 72 dpi. Even so you’ll have trouble seeing everything. Sometimes it takes awhile. I can only share my results and encourage you to experiment on your own.

Figure 2. Click to enlarge and see rollover image. Here DGS, digital graphic segregation, enabled the identification of many more bones than firsthand observation, including the displaced carpals and tarsals, along with a few insects and egg-shapes. Originally the some bones were on one layer, others on added layers. Remember, reconstruction is also part of this process. Reconstruction reminds you which bones are missing and need to be found.

Gephyrostegus watsoni
is a crushed Westphalian (310 mya) amniote currently considered to be an anamniote juvenile of Gephyrostegus bohemicus. It was traced by Brough and Brough (1967) and Carroll (1970, Fig. 1). Brough and Brough determined that it was sufficiently distinct from the holotype of G. bohemicus to erect a new species. Carroll did not recognized those differences and so considered it a juvenile lacking carpals and tarsals, having a large skull with short rostrum and other traditional juvenile traits. Klembara et al. (2014) agreed.

DGS found more bones than firsthand observation and enabled a precise reconstruction (Fig. 3). Tracing the bones in color enables one to lift those bones, as they are, to create a more accurate reconstruction while minimizing handwork that could introduce error.

Figure 3. Reconstruction of G. watsoni as a distinctly different genus, nesting with Eldeceeon rather than G. bohemicus. DGS was key to recovering this data.

Phylogenetic analysis nests G. watsoni with Eldeceeon (Fig. 4), not with G. bohemicus. So this specimen is not a juvenile and it needs a new generic name. DGS was key to recovering the data found here. If you take a look at the specimen with colorized bones, you’ll soon realize that the several layers would leave a pencil and a prism in the dust. On the computer monitor tracing becomes simpler pulling bones out of the chaos on the matrix layer by layer.

Figure 4. Click to enlarge and see the rollover. Eldeceeon with a strangely expanded belly (defined by gastralia/scales) that could have contained a load of eggs, traced in green here.

And here’s a second exampleEldeceeon is a Viséan amniote known from another crushed skeleton (Fig. 4). Here I was able to find more bones than in prior tracings (Fig. 5) and create a more accurate reconstruction (Fig. 6) than created by prior workers (Fig. 7).

Note that drawings of bones often unlabeled, don’t tell the whole story. By colorizing each bone and using the same color for the left and right counterparts the chaos is reduced and reconstructions can be created with ease.

Figure 6. Two specimens attributed to Eldeceeon that nest together. The holotype is the one in figure 4. Compare this reconstruction to one produced earlier, shown in figure 6.

These two Eldeceeon specimens (Fig. 6) nest together, but would clearly be distinct genera if they lived in the modern world. This also means that if you use the skull of one on the body of the other, you will create a chimaera, which only leads to phylogenetic trouble. See the family tree of basal amniotes here. See basal amniotes to scale here.

Figure 7. Eldeceeon as reconstructed by Smithson 1994 (gray area added). Anterior skull is based on the referred Eldeceeon specimen. Even the rib count is off. Note the large size of the pelvis and too short torso, traits that would be errors if entered into phylogenetic analysis.

Data from the literature
While we all have to rely on specimen drawings and reconstructions, that’s not always a good idea, as this little exercise demonstrates. After DGS I have more confidence that the reconstruction is more accurate.

The upshot is
with DGS I was able to more accurately nest these taxa on this side of the anamniote/amnote transition and shed new light on this important stage in the evolution of amniotes/reptiles, including you and me. Making discoveries like this is richly rewarding. The extra effort used to create DGS is definitely worth the extra effort.

I hope
this demonstration puts an end to the bad rap that DGS has been getting.

And a big hello
to all the paleontologists in Berlin attending the SVP convention there.

ReferencesBrough MC and Brough J 1967. The Genus Gephyrostegus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 252 (776): 147–165.Carroll RL 1970. The Ancestry of Reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B 257:267–308. online pdfKlembara J, Clack J, Milner AR and Ruta M 2014. Cranial anatomy, ontogeny, and relationships of the Late Carboniferous tetrapod Gephyrostegus bohemicus Jaekel, 1902. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34:774–792.Smithson TR 1994.Eldeceeon rolfei, a new reptiliomorph from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 84 (3-4): 377–382.

Yesterday we looked at primitive archosauromorpha at the base of the Amniota. Today we’ll look at basal lepidosauromorpha.

Figure 1. Cladogram of basal amniotes, a subset of the large reptile tree. Dots represent phylogenetic size reductions. Bootstrap scores are shown. Archosauromorpha in gray. Lepidosauromorpha in black at the bottom.

Figure 2. A new reconstruction of Gephyrostegus bohemicus. This species lived 30 million years after the origin of the Amniota in the Visean, 340 mya. Note the lack of posterior dorsal ribs. This trait shared by all basalmost amniotes, may provide additional space for massive eggs in gravid females, but is also shared with males, if there were males back then.

Figure 3. Urumqia liudaowanensis (Zhang et al. 1984) ~20 cm snout-vent length, Lower Permian. Formerly considered a sister to Utegenia, an anamniote, it now nests as the basalmost of all lepidosauromorpha.

Urumqia liudaowanensis(Zhang et al. 1984) ~20 cm snout-vent length, Upper Permian, was originally considered a discosaurid seymouriamorph close to Utegenia. Here (Fig. 1) it nests at the base of the lepidosauromorph reptiles despite its late appearance in the fossil record. Note the gastalia are much wider than the dorsal ribs, likely to retain large eggs in gravid females. Distinct from G. bohemicus, Urumqia had shorter limbs, longer posterior dorsal ribs and a robust tail with elongate caudals. The palate included a larger suborbital fenestra, not homologous to later taxa with this trait. The cheek included a small lateral temporal fenestra. The carpals and tarsals are poorly ossified.

Figure 4. Bruktererpeton, a gephyrostegid and a basal lepidosauromorph amniote.

Bruktererpeton fiebigi — (Boy and Bandel, 1973; Fig. 3) is an older (Namurian/ Bashkirian, 320 Ma) sister to Gephyrostegus bohemicus (Ruta, Jefferey and Coates, 2003; Klembara et al., 2014). The pectoral girdle and limbs are more gracile. The scapula is taller. The intercentra are smaller. Other traditional amniote traits, if present, are not preserved.

Cephalerpeton — (Gregory 1948) representing a new sister clade to the Captorhinomorpha, Cephalerpeton had an elongate humuerus with a narrow shaft. The much larger and later Reiszorhinus is a sister.

Figure 7. Two specimens of Concordia, a basal lepidosauromorph.

Concordia — (Müller & Reisz 2005, Stephanian, Late Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous, 4 cm skull length) was considered the oldest known captorhinid, but here (Fig. 1) it nests with Cephalerpeton as a sister to captorhinids.

Figure 9. Saurorictus, a basal lepidosauromorph in the lineage of Milleretta, compared to sister taxa.

Saurorictus — (Modesto and Smith 2001, SAM PK-8666, skull length ~2.2 cm, estimated total length 15 cm, Late Permian), derived from a sister to Thuringothyris, Concordia and Cephalerpeton, Saurorictus is the taxon basal to all other lepidosauromorpha including diadectomorpha, chelonia and lepidosauria. (sorry, cut off from bottom of cladogram, Fig. 1). It was considered the most complete captorhinid from the Late Permian.

Size comparisons

Figure 10. Basal amniotes to scale. Click to enlarge.

Here, Fig. 10, there is a size reduction in ‘second generation’ basal amniotes/basal lepidosauromorpha. You’ll note that several former anamniotes now nest within the amniota. They were judged anamniotes by the skeletal traits, not by their phylogenetic nesting, which has not been adequately tested until now.

Earlier here and elsewhere we looked at the origin of the Amniota. Today we’ll take a look at the cladogram (Fig. 1) and some of the taxa no one expected to see on this side of the anamniote/amniote transition series.

Figure 1. Cladogram of basal amniotes, a subset of the large reptile tree. Dots represent phylogenetic size reductions. Bootstrap scores are shown. Archosauromorpha in gray. Lepidosauromorpha in black at the bottom.

As before, the Amniota is divided at its base into the new Lepidosauromorpha (taxa closer to lepidosaurs) and the new Archosauromorpha (closer to archosaurs).

Figure 2. A new reconstruction of Gephyrostegus bohemicus. This species lived 30 million years after the origin of the Amniota in the Visean, 340 mya. Note the lack of posterior dorsal ribs. This trait shared by all basalmost amniotes, may provide additional space for massive eggs in gravid females, but is also shared with males, if there were males back then.

Gephyrotegus bohemicus (Fig. 1, Westphalian, 310 mya) is the last common ancestor of all amniotes and Silvanerpeton (Viséan, 340 mya) is the outgroup anamniote (or very possible also an amniote).

Figure 3. Utegenia nests as the common ancestor of frogs, salamanders, caecelians and microsaurs but the only known specimens are from the Earliest Permian.

Note the placement of the seymouriamorph, Utegenia(Fig. 3), at the base of the Lepospondyli, which includes extant amphibians and microsaurs… and just outside the base of the Amniota.

Basal Archosauromorpha

Figure 4. Two specimens attributed to Eldeceeon that nest together. The lack of posterior dorsal ribs was first noticed in the holotype.

Eldeceeon rolfei – (Smithson 1994, ~27 cm in total length, Early Carboniferous (Viséan) ~335 mya), is from the same formation that yielded Silvanerpetonand Westlothiana. Eldeceeon is known from two dissimilar specimens that nest together. They have a smaller skull and slightly shorter limbs with smaller girdles while retaining a deep ventral pelvis.

Gephyrostegus watsoni– (Brough and Brough 1967) was originally named Diplovertebron punctatum (Watson 1926, Fig. 5), but reassigned to Gephyostegus bohemicusby Carroll (1970) despite the size difference. Carroll thought G. watsoni was a juvenile. Klembara et al. (2014) agreed. The high arched neural spines, small intercentra, and the extreme lean of the posterior skull mark this small basal amniote/gephyrostegid distinct from all others. Egg shapes were found nearby along with insects. The embryo shown is hypothetical.

Figure 6. Solenodonsaurus reconstructed. The largest of the basal amniotes, likely aquatic. Note the intertemporal is still present. That doesn’t matter. It still nests with amniotes.

Solenodonsaurus janenschi – (Broili 1924) Early Permian ~13 cm skull length was considered the sister to all other amniotes by all prior workers, but here Solenodonsaurus nests as a basal archosauromorph, basal to chroniosuchids.

Figure 7. Three chorniosuchids to scale.

Chroniosuchids – (Tverdokhlebova 1972) Early Permian ~7 cm skull length, were considered aberrant pre-reptiles by all prior workers, but here they nest within the Archosauromorpha. Note the convergent appearance of an antorbital fenestra.

Figure 9. Westlothiana reconstructed. The gray area is hypothetical as if gravid.

Westlothiana – (Smithson & Rolfe 1990) lived ~338 mya, earlier than any other known reptile. This reconstruction has longer anterior dorsal ribs and shorter posterior dorsal ribs than originally reconstructed. A longer torso is a different solution to egg containment.

Figure 10. Broffia reconstructed. The smallest of all basal amniotes, this could be a juvenile or just a small adult.

Brouffia orientalis – (Carroll and Baird 1972) Westphalian, Late Carboniferous, (CGH IIIB 21 c. 587) and counterpart (MP451), specimen 1 of Brough and Brough (1967) was considered very small Gephyrostegus with two sacrals and an intertemporal. Carroll (1970) considered it not congeneric. Carroll and Baird (1972) considered it a primtiive reptile with a single sacral and no intertemporal. The missing skull of the sister taxon Casineria (Fig. 8) probably looks like this one.

We’ll look at basal Lepidosauromorpha tomorrow.

ReferencesBroili F von 1924. Ein Cotylosaurier aus der oberkarbonischen Gaskohle von Nürschan in Böhmen. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Abteilung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München 1924: 3-11.Brough MC and Brough J 1967. Studies on early tetrapods. III. The genus Gephyrostegus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B252: 147-165.Brough MC and Brough J 1967. The Genus Gephyrostegus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 252 (776): 147–1Carroll RL 1970. The Ancestry of Reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B 257:267–308. online pdfCarroll RL 1970. The ancestry of reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B257: 267-308.Clack JA and Klembara J 2009. An articulated specimen of Chroniosaurus dongusensis and the morphology and relationships of the chroniosuchids. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 81: 15–42.Danto M, Witzmann F and Müller J 2012. Redescription and phylogenetic relationships of Solenodonsaurus janenschi Broili, 1924, from the Late Carboniferous of Nyrany, Czech Republic. Fossil Record 15 (2) 2012, 45–59.Klembara J, Clack J, and Cernansky A 2010. The anatomy of palate ofChroniosaurus dongusensis (Chroniosuchia, Chroniosuchidae) from the Upper Permian of Russia. Palaeontology 53: 1147-1153.Klembara J, Clack J, Milner AR and Ruta M 2014. Cranial anatomy, ontogeny, and relationships of the Late Carboniferous tetrapod Gephyrostegus bohemicus Jaekel, 1902. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34:774–792.Laurin M and Reisz 1999. A new study of Solenodonsaurus janenschi, and a reconsideration of amniote origins and stegocephalian evolution. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 36:1239-1255.Paton RL Smithson TR and Clack JA1999. An amniote-like skeleton from the Early Carboniferous of Scotland. Nature 398: 508-513.Schoch RR, Voig S and Buchwitz M 2010. A chroniosuchid from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan and analysis of chroniosuchian relationships. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160: 515–530. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00613.xSmithson TR 1994.Eldeceeon rolfei, a new reptiliomorph from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 84 (3-4): 377–382.Smithson TR & Rolfe WDI 1990.Westlothiana gen. nov. :naming the earliest known reptile. Scottish Journal of Geology no 26, pp 137–138.Tverdochlebova GI 1972. A new Batrachosaur Genus from the Upper Permian of the South Urals, Paleontol. Zh., 1972: 95–103.

Earlier here, here and here we looked at various aspects of life for basal amniotes in the Viséan to the Westphalian (340-310 mya). Today we’ll look at another trait common to basal amniotes.

Figure 1. Amniote scales from Didelphis (opossum, background) and Iguana. They probably had their origin in the Viséan as basal amniotes spent less and less time in water and needed a form of waterproofing to avoid desiccation.

Phylogenetic Miniaturization and the Genesis of Keratinized ScalesKeratinized scales (Fig. 1) more or less insulate many living amniotes and all living reptiles from evaporative water loss. Anamniotes (frogs, etc.) don’t have a waterproof skin, but may have scattered osteoderms. While many mammals replace scales with fur and birds replace scales with feathers, keratinized scales are retained on the tail of the opossum and the feet of all birds. Scalation also protects against ant and termite bites.

Figure 2. A new reconstruction of Gephyrostegus bohemicus, this most primitive amniote preserves dorsal dermal scales. Ossified ventral scales are more common and sometimes transformed into gastralia rods.

Scale originsBasal gnathostomes (basal fish) had ossified skin first and an ossified skeleton later. In teleosts and tetrapods the integumentary (skin) skeleton has undergone widespread reduction and/or modification (Vickaryous and Sire 2009). Sarcopterygians (stem tetrapods) had cosmoid scales, characterized by an intrinsic, interconnected canal system with numerous flask-shaped cavities and superficial pores. In Ichthyostega and other basal tetrapods, dentine, enameled, guanine and pore-canal systems were lost, leaving bone (osteoderms) as the remaining dermal element wherever present. Osteoderms are structurally quite variable and are found in a wide variety of tetrapods, including amphibians. Often they have been lost and independently regained. Temnospondyl amphibians, like Greererpeton, have a combination of thin and overlapping scales, granular pellets, and/or robust plates.

Amniote scale origins
While scales or their impressions are rarely preserved, Carroll (1969) reported some indication of dorsal epidermal scales in Gephyrostegus bohemicus(Fig.2). In Cephalerpeton Carroll and Baird (1972) reported that skin impressions had a slightly pebbly texture, but without evidence for discrete scales. Brough and Brough (1967) found ventral scales in tiny Brouffia (their specimen no. 1) and provided a similar description for the developing gastralia of Gephyrostegus. Not sure why the first and most substantial scales first appeared ventrally, rather than dorsally, where the sun shines, except that the ventral surface is in contact with the substrate.

The importance of scalesIn basalmost amniotes forays onto land likely increased in duration. Dermal protection from desiccation is more important in smaller amniotes due to their larger surface-to-mass ratio (Hedges and Thomas, 2001). This is especially applicable to hatchlings and juveniles, some of which may have been less than 2 cm in snout/vent length because the adults were so small. Basal amniote juveniles would have rivaled certain microsaur juveniles as the smallest tetrapods of their day, and perhaps they competed in similar niches. Scales may have given the advantage to reptiles.

With regard to microsaurs
Carroll and Baird (1968) reported, “Extremely delicate dorsal scales of elongate-oval shape are present between (and occasionally overlapping) the ribs of the better-ossified United States National Museum specimen [of the microsaur Tuditanus]. If allowance is made for their insubstantial nature, the scales of Tuditanus are essentially similar to those of ther Carboniferous microsaurs (Carroll, 1966). There is no evidence of rodlike ventral scales such as occur in other lepospondyls (Baird, 1965), or wheat-shaped gastralia like those of primitive reptiles.”

Going one step further in the middle Jurassic, tiny basal mammals traded scales for insulating hair and thicker fur (assumed by phylogenetic bracketing). On the other hand, the first Jurassic dinosaurs to preserve protofeathers, like slender Sinosauropteryx (Ji and Ji, 1996), were a meter long, so not tiny. Basal volant birds became progressively smaller.

ReferencesBaird D 1965. Paleozoic lepospondyl amphibians. American Zoologist 5: 287-294.Brough MC and J Brough 1967. The Genus Gephyrostegus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London, Series B, Biological Sciences 252:47–165.Carroll RL 1966. Microsaurs from the Westphalian B of Joggins, Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 177: 63-97.Carroll RL 1969. Problems of the origin of reptiles. Biological Reviews 44:393–431.Carroll RL and Baird D 1968. The Carboniferous amphibian Tuditanus (Eosauravus) and the distinction between microsaurs and reptiles. American Museum novitates 2337: 1-50.Carroll RL. and D Baird 1972. Carboniferous stem-reptiles of the family Romeriidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 143:321–363.Hedges SB and R Thomas 2001. At the lower size limit in amniote vertebrates: A new diminutive lizard from the West Indies. Caribbean Journal of Science 37:168–173.Ji Q and S Ji 1996. On the discovery of the earliest bird fossil in China (Sinosauropteryx gen. nov.) and the origin of birds. Chinese Geology 10(233): 30–33.Vickaryous MK and Sire J-Y 2009. The integumentary skeleton of tetrapods: origin evolution, and development. Journal of Anatomy 214:441-464. online here.

Earlier we looked at the base of the amniota and the phylogenetic miniaturization that preceded and succeeded basalmost amniotes. Today we’ll take a closer look at the one key trait that defines the Amniota.

Eggs and Embryonic Development
All morphology aside, the single key trait that defines the Amniota is the production of eggs surrounded by extraembryonic membranes and large enough to sustain the development of the developing embryo until it hatches beyond the gilled aquatic stage. Initially such an egg must have been small enough to maintain its shape and integrity out of water during the gradual evolution of those extraembryonic membranes (Carroll, 1969).

Phylogenetic bracketing shows the evolution of the amniotic egg had its genesis in the Viséan (~345 Ma), likely with a sister to Silvanerpeton and Gephyrostegus bohemicus, (the latter known from the Westphalian, 310 mya). Earlier and more derived amniotes are also found in Viséan strata. These include Westlothiana, Casineria and Eldeceeon(Fig. 1). So the origin of the amniotic egg precedes them all.

The anamniote outgroup taxa, Seymouria, Kotlassia and Utegenia(Fig. 1), all known from much later time periods (Permian), had juveniles with external gills (Laurin, 1996; Klembara et al., 2007), and so did not produce amniotic eggs. None of the recovered basal amniotes had juveniles with gills and sensory grooves. Carroll and Baird (1972) considered the small basal amniote Brouffia (Westphalian, Fig. 1) a juvenile. It had no external gills or sensory grooves. Klembara et al. (2014) considered Gephyrostegus watsoni(Fig. 1) a juvenile anamniote, but it, likewise, has no external gills or sensory grooves. Rather it nests between Eldeceeon and Solenodonsaurus in the Archosaurmorpha branch of the Amniota.

Amniotes more derived than G. bohemicus also develop a second sacral vertebra. Since these ‘second generation’ basal amniotes are generally much smaller overall with shorter limbs (Fig. 1), the second sacral rib comes as something of a surprise—unless it was used to help support the greater weight and mass of gravid females.

Certain amniote clades also transform their ossified ventral dermal scales to become elongate gastralia. Perhaps this also helped support the greater weight and width of the egg mass while gravid.

Only female basal amniotes?
Notably, no gender differences have been identified in basal amniote skeletons. Either basal male amniotes also lacked posterior dorsal ribs and had a deeper pelvic opening and/or basal amniotes reproduced by parthenogenesis (reproduction without males), as certain living lizards do (Lutes, et al., 2010). It could go either way.

Figure 2. Click to enlarge. Gephyrostegus watson (Westphalian, 310 mya) in situ and reconstructed. The egg shapes are near the hips as if recently laid. A few insects appear in the matrix. The carpals and tarsals are present, just displaced. So are the tail chevrons. The embryo (E) is hypothetical based on egg shape and size.

Westphalian amniote eggs?
In the basal amniote Gephyrostegus watsoni (Fig. 2, but this taxon needs a new name because it doesn’t nest with the holotype of Gephyrostegus) eight irregular flattened sphere shapes, each 5mm in diameter (five percent of the adult snout/vent length), appear dorsal to the open ‘lumbar’ area. If they were eggs they are the right size to pass through the pelvic opening. Preserved beyond the confines of the mother’s abdomen, the mother could have moved slightly just after depositing her eggs, shortly before burial. No embryonic skeletons should be expected to appear within such eggs. Instead embryos would have developed after egg deposition, as in many living reptiles. No calcified shell should be expected at this early stage of egg evolution. Examples of similar jelly-like soft tissue preservation in the fossil record are known, as in the Triassic lepidosaur, Cosesaurus (Fig. 4), preserved with a medusa (Ellenberger and de Villalta, 1974).

Click to enlarge and see rollover image. Here DGS, digital graphic segregation, enabled the identification of many more bones than firsthand observation, including the displaced carpals and tarsals, along with a few insects and egg-shapes.

Hatchling size
From 1 cm diameter egg sizes (estimated from pelvic openings) curled up Gephyrostegus bohemicus hatchlings would have been ~2.6 cm in length or one-eighth (12 percent) the size of the mother (Fig. 1).

Figure 3. Click to enlarge and see the rollover. Eldeceeon with a strangely expanded belly (defined by gastralia/scales) that could have contained a load of eggs, traced in green here.

A gravid amniote in the Viséan?
The Eldeceeon holotype was preserved with an oddly expanded belly (Fig. 3). Perhaps this was also a gravid female (Fig. 7) with an egg load that pushed out her ossified ventral scales during postmortem decay and/or crushing. I’ve traced some possible eggs shapes found in the matrix.

Living examples of gravid females
Extant lizards (Fig. 4) show the extent of belly-stretching in gravid (pregnant) females and the relatively large size of their eggs. A clutch can be about the size of the mother’s eggless torso.

Basal amniote paleobiology
With short, sprawling fore limbs, a weak tail and a large head, Gephyrostegus watsoni (Fig. 2) was likely slow and secretive, like the living Sphenodon, both in leaf litter and in shallow puddles. This would apply even more so to massively burdened gravid females (Fig. 4). Without obvious defenses or weapons, the key to basal amniote success appears to have been an increase in the production of large eggs laid safely out of predator-filled swamps. The East Kirkton (Viséan) and Nyrany Basin (Westphalian) environments were swampy coal forests, so these would have provided the humid air, damp earth, wet leaf litter and abundant puddles needed for basal amniotes to slowly evolve keratinized skin and membrane enclosed eggs. The large orbit of basal amniotes suggests a nocturnal niche. Perhaps they hid and slept during daylight hours, avoiding evaporative sunlight and diurnal predators.